Are the rules established by: the national legislative authority? Some branch of the executive? A professional association? Are they mandatory for the profession they apply to? Or are they a sort of best practices?

The medical profession relevant?medical field in general yes Fire-fighting? Military rules? all others no

Are the rules established by: the national legislative authority? Some branch of the executive? A professional association?this Are they mandatory for the profession they apply to?yes Or are they a sort of best practices?

Do the rules pertain to: doctors? nurses?yes patients?as well as this, SVV of patients hospitals as institution?no others? Are they intended to protect the patients?protect one set of patients yes. There are two sets involved here Is any medical profession more relevant?more of medical area. Think medical organizations

Do the rules pertain to: doctors? nurses?this a little bit patients?this, svv of patients hospitals as institution? others? Are they intended to protect the patients?one group of patients yes, there are two involved here Is any medical profession more relevant?no, just think of specific medical organizations

Hormones relevant? no, in a very small way you could probably argue for yes, but I would say no

Is the other group women who haven't been pregnant? some of them probably are, but completely irrel

Are the once pregnant women the people who are savedno, the once pregnant women are actually only part of that group, adn that group is not saved and the other group the people whose lives are endangeredbut this is true (or vice versa)?

Is it because according to the rules, both groups are to be treated equally/differently although they really shouldn't be?no

Can we call the group who is saved Group A and the group who isn't Group B?

Is Group B causing Group A to be in danger? If not for Group B, would Group A need assistance from the Red Cross? Or would they already be dead? Is Group B a terrorist organization? And they attack Group A thus causing the Red Cross to intervene and when force is used by the military against Group B they don't save them?

Can we call the group who is saved Group A and the group who isn't Group B? YES! would be very helpful indeed

Is Group B causing Group A to be in danger? noIf not for Group B, would Group A need assistance from the Red Cross?no Or would they already be dead? if not for Group B, many in Group A would die yesIs Group B a terrorist organization? And they attack Group A thus causing the Red Cross to intervene and when force is used by the military against Group B they don't save them?no to these

HINT: try to figure out exactly what is going on between group A and B, then we can move on to the next part of the puzzle. Ignore the pregnancy part for now. Pregnancy has something to do with group B, but group B is not necessarily pregnant or not pregnant so many of these questions have been FA's

So the first part of the puzzle statement refers to the rules about who can/can't give blood, and that they may be "saving lives" in that they prevent potential disease from being passed along through transfusions, correct?

Are they "endangering lives" in that there might not be enough blood to go around?

So the first part of the puzzle statement refers to the rules about who can/can't give blood, and that they may be "saving lives" in that they prevent potential disease from being passed along through transfusions, correct? Yes

Are they "endangering lives" in that there might not be enough blood to go around?no

Are the relevant rules related to disease?closest to this To geographical location? To age? Weight? Race?no to these...but there is one missing that it does relate to Are any rules relevant, period?yes

Do those in Group A need a transfusion of whole blood? Of just plasma? Is the fear in potentially giving plasma to someone needing whole blood? Vice Versa?no to the last two

clarification/hint: there is a discrepancy between the deferring rules for plasma and whole blood that there admittedly shouldn't be. so the people in group A include plasma and whole blood recipients. In fact, Group A was only brought into the puzzle so you could figure out the relevant topic

RECAP: Giving blood or plasma saves lives. Tha is indisputed. There is a deferring rule that is different between blood donation and plasma donation. This rule involves pregnancy in some way, although that is NOT the main part of it. Because of the discrepancy between the deferring rules, lives are being endangered.

Does the rule involve people who are pregnant?wope Have been pregnant? yopeCannot get pregnant? Plan on becoming pregnant?

"Women who are currently nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant should not 'do X'"?

(Usually it involves taking some medication or other. I hear it all the time...sometimes as "Women who are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant should consult their doctor before taking "X".)

lets make this easier and say it involves all women. Pregnancy is just the underlying reason for this rule. This is what I was trying to get you to ask earlier when you were asking about age, weight, race, etc

Is the rule simply that women are not allowed to give just plasma?yes. Actually, For awhile it was just that they would not accept new female donors, but that is more specific than is relevant to the puzzle

They're not? Why not? That's weird. Why just women?? (Or is that the...you know...to the puzzle?)it's not exactly the answer to the puzzle, so I'll go ahead and tell you: there is an enzyme produced in SOME women who have been pregnant that has basically proved harmful in transfusions

Well, that rule eliminates half of all possible donors...relevant?no, that's not what I'm looking for

The rule that women may not give plasma because of this enzyme is saving lives by eliminating the enzyme in plasma transfusions, but is also endangering lives because of the possibility that the enzyme may pass through a transfusion of whole blood.

The rule that women may not give plasma because of this enzyme is saving lives by eliminating the enzyme in plasma transfusions, but is also endangering lives because of the possibility that the enzyme may pass through a transfusion of whole blood.

This everything? Or do we need more?

this is pretty much everything, I'll explain the details, so: SPOILER

I've been giving blood since I turned sixteen. For some personal reasons, and because I could do it every week instead of every two months, I asked if I could do pheresis. I was told that they weren't accepting any NEW female donors for pheresis because of the possibility of an enzyme in the blood of some women who have been pregnant.

Apparently this enxyme was recently discovered, and one thing they could do is come up with a test for this enzyme. However, the more cost effective and time effective thing to do is defer people. This reduces the worry and makes it seem like they are doing something about it. I asked specifically though and this enzyme can be passed along through whole blood as well, but deferring all women from giving whole blood would be devastating to the supply, and a test would cost money, it is just not being mentioned.

Sorry if the explanation is a little wordy.

UPDATE: since I posted this puzzle, the blood center called and said that I am able to do pheresis, they are beginning to accept new female donors(who haven't ever been pregnant)